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The great nephew of the disgraced 1960s war minister John Profumo has been arrested trying to get back into the country after travelling to Syria to "take action" againt Isil.

Jamie Janson was one of dozens of Westerners who allegedly volunteered to fight with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the terror group's capital Raqqa.

The 42-year-old grandson of Lord Balfour subsequently found himself alongside the YPG in their struggle against Turkish troops in Afrin, a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria, earlier this year.

It can now be revealed that Mr Janson was arrested by police in Folkestone, Kent, on Tuesday, after travelling by coach from France.

He was held under section 5 of the Terrorism Act by officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command before being released on bail, pending further inquiries.

Jamie Janson's, far left, grandfather was the World War One flying ace Harold Harington Balfour

Mr Janson told The Telegraph that he and the other foreign volunteers with the YPG were smuggled out of Afrin into government-held areas in late March after the city fell to Turkish and Syrian rebel forces.

From there he managed to cross the border to the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, where he took a flight to Brussels before travelling on to France. He then took a ferry to Dover.

"I was taken off the bus at Folkestone and arrested. It was a pretty scary process," he said. "I was released under investigation after a night in the cell. Police treated me very well and it has been amazing to see my family again after so long."

Mr Janson’s family have told of their delight at hearing after so many weeks that he was alive and well, albeit facing the prospect of criminal charges in his own country.

His brother Christopher Janson, 33, said: “It’s a huge relief he is alive and safe. I received a text saying he had been bailed after being arrested on his way back into the country and he is now staying with friends.

“He’s very pleased to be back."

To date no British citizen has been convicted for fighting against Isil, but the authorities have said that they will take action and the law is unclear on what would happen if they engaged in a battle with a United Nations member state.

Mr Janson had worked in refugee camps in Calais and Greece before joining an aid agency near Mosul, northern Iraq, where he decided to take up arms after becoming increasingly frustrated.

He informed his family that he was fighting in northern Syria by sending them a picture of himself wearing fatigues and holding a Kalashnikov.

Speaking to The Telegraph in January, from the countryside north of Raqqa, Mr Janson said: "I feel guilty about how much I have put my family through. Being out here will be a great worry for them."

Mr Janson’s grandparents were the World War One flying ace Harold Harington Balfour, 1st Baron Balfour of Inchrye and Mary Ainslie Profumo, sister of John Profumo, the Conservative minister whose liaison with the call girl Christine Keeler became one of the scandals of the age.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “A man arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences as part of an investigation by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command has been released under investigation. The arrest related to the Syrian conflict.”